1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to foam projectile articles. More specifically, the present invention discloses a foam projectile article of a determined shape, capable of being discharged from a gun, slingshot, cannon or the like. The projectile articles exhibit any number of light illuminating elements, such as in particular LED elements, and which provide a maximum degree of durability and impact resilience.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art is well documented with examples of foam projectile discharge articles. One example of this is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,564, issued to Kotowski, and which teaches a disc discharging toy including a body having a hand grip. A plurality of resilient discs are secured within a magazine mounted on the body and in a stacked position. An imparted discharge force is provided by a drive roller to expel each disk in succession from the article. Additional examples of foam discharge articles are also illustrated in reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,471,967 and 5,611,322, both issued to Matsuzuki et al.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 422,100, issued to Zhang, teaches a disc support for an LED light bulb design. U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,964, issued to Chin-Chien, discloses a toy gun with a helically driven reciprocating barrel. Two discs are secured in the gun barrel and a roller is rotatably supported between the discs and has three helical grooves. Three tubes are slidably extended through one of the discs and are engaged with the helical grooves of the roller such that the tubes are moved in reciprocating action when the roller is rotated. Three light bulbs are disposed in the tubes, and the tubes are made of transparent materials having different colors such that the different colors are generated through the tubes when the light bulbs are energized.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2002/0081939, published to Hornsby et al., teaches a system and method for launching glow-in-the-dark projectiles from a projectile launcher wherein the toy comprises projectiles exposed to light prior to being launched and a firing mechanism wherein a portion of the firing mechanism is positioned with the projectile prior to being fired from the launcher. In one embodiment, the firing mechanism comprises a light for exposing the projectile to radiation prior to being fired from the gun. The present invention is further well suited for use as a toy projectile launcher wherein the toy may be used in dark or low-light areas.